Surrounded By Ice
by HopelessOwls
Summary: Zuko is sent to the Northern Water Tribe for his exile and finds that exile is not as bad as he thought it would be, thanks to his new friends. Zuko/Katara oneshot


**A/N: So not my usual style, but I wanted to try something new. Hope you like it and please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

The first time Zuko saw her she was fighting. She was standing in front of the council building, facing off with Master Pakku, water swirling around her body, snow puffing at her feet. Her hair was loose, the brown waves flying around her face; she was snarling, pink lips curling over teeth and bright blue eyes snapping with anger. Zuko didn't know what she was doing, why she was –foolishly – fighting with Master Pakku, who she even _was_. But he couldn't stop staring as she whirled around in the snow, launching ice and water at Master Pakku's head, making him stumble more than once. She was pretty, he thought, for a little peasant girl. Then Zuko turned away, because he, a prince, shouldn't stare at her, a peasant.

xXx

The first time she saw Zuko, he was walking through the ice city, heading for the kitchens with a dead and bloody tiger seal slung over his shoulders. They came face to face in an alleyway, stopping a few feet away from each other, snow walls trapping them together. She jerked to a halt, her wide blue eyes wide and then narrowed in distrust and something stronger. An older boy came up behind her, with eyes just like hers – her brother – and he too glared at Zuko with hateful eyes that spoke of ghosts and a haunted past. The older boy put his arm around her shoulders and led her away, his back stiff and her hands shaking. Zuko glared after them, a sour taste in his mouth as he thought about what would have caused them to stare at his yellow eyes and pale skin with such judging and hateful gazes.

xXx

She was the Chieftan of the Southern Water Tribe's daughter and Sokka was her brother. She had been fighting Master Pakku because she believed she should learn waterbending, not just healing, and Master Pakku refused to teach her because she was a girl. She was in the Northern Water Tribe because she and her brother were attempting to repair relations between the Tribes, acting as diplomats in their father's place while he was off fighting in the war. Zuko didn't know why she hated him so much, hated him so _personally_, why every time she saw him, the smile slipped off her face and her eyes turned to ice chips. Zuko also didn't know why he cared. Her name was Katara.

xXx

The first time she talked to him, she didn't ask for his name – she already knew it, and knew who he was – she didn't ask how he liked the Northern Water Tribe with false kindness, she didn't ask how his nation was faring with obvious dislike. She asked him why he wasn't ordering people around like animals in the Fire Nation palace. Her bright eyes still shown with loathing. Zuko's glare mirrored hers as he walked away without answering. He could feel her hot stare trained on his back and told himself she was no different than the rest of the Water Tribe peasants, the peasants who all wished him dead.

xXx

When Zuko got a letter from his sister, Katara glared at him from across the long table where they sat to eat. Zuko avoided her eyes, and everybody else's, as he read the short paragraph from Azula that asked how he was enjoying his exile, and taunted him about her new status as Crown Princess. Zuko could feel the hard stares of the Tribe's occupants and told himself he didn't care what a bunch of peasants or his sister thought of him. He told himself that he couldn't feel _her_ stare carving into his back any more than anyone else's.

xXx

People liked to watch Zuko train. They stood around at a safe distance, watching with different emotions playing out across their features; interest, awe, fear, distrust, hate. _She_ was among those watching him. He could see her, standing there with her arms crossed under her breasts, gnawing on her pink lip. And for once, she wasn't glaring at him with eyes that spoke of horrors she wanted to inflict on him, but instead with reluctant fascination. Zuko ignored her stare, and everybody else's as fire, his element, swirled and danced around him.

xXx

Katara stopped hating Zuko when he saved her brother during a hunting trip. Sokka had tripped and fallen down on the ice, right in front of a wild polar bear dog and had nearly been bitten in half. Zuko speared the animal in the shoulder before it could rip Sokka to shreds, injuring himself in the process when the animal clawed Zuko down his side. When they returned to the Tribe, Katara stared at Zuko while he and Sokka were tended to with watery, grateful eyes.

xXx

The second time Katara talked to Zuko, she offered to change his bandages. She stood uncertainly in the doorway to her room, chewing on her lip while Zuko glared from his bed, barely able to sit up. She walked into his room slowly, and stood next to his bed and said nothing. She sat down on the bed next to him and one hand hesitantly reached out, her trembling fingers brushing over the white, frayed bandages that covered half his torso and the top of his thigh. Her gaze met his and Zuko saw sorrow and fear in her shining blue eyes. "Do you want me to change the bandage?" she had asked quietly. Zuko swallowed. He stared at her and nodded. Katara smiled – a small smile, her lips just barely curving at the corners, but genuine. Zuko couldn't help but stare at the first smile he had ever received from someone in the Northern Water Tribe.

xXx

When the Avatar came to the Northern Water Tribe, Zuko was conflicted. His father had told him the only way for him to go home and reclaim his honor was to capture the Avatar. Three months ago, he would have. But this Avatar was only a boy, nothing more. He didn't know how to bend all the elements, only air, which was the element he was born with. And Katara cared for the boy – Zuko didn't want to see her look at him with hatred again after he sent the boy to a Fire Nation prison. So he stood and watched as the boy Avatar learned waterbending and didn't send word to his father.

xXx

Katara was the only one to notice Zuko had nightmares. She heard him yelling and moaning in his sleep one night and went to his room, shaking him awake. He stared at her wide-eyed, sweaty hair plastered to his face. She said nothing, just laid down on the bed next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Zuko froze, unsure of what to do; he had never been that close to a girl before. Carefully, he wrapped an arm around her, letting his forehead rest against her soft hair. It was wrong he knew, to let Katara sleep in his bed, but he found he didn't want her to leave.

xXx

Zuko wasn't sure how he became friends with Katara, or with her brother and the boy Avatar, but one day he realized he was. They sat around him at meals, laughing and joking and talking. It was strange to Zuko, to be friends with _anybody_, but it felt good at the same time. He found himself smiling when he talked to Katara, rolling his eyes with Sokka, and generally caring about them. He wondered what his father would say if he knew that Zuko was friends with the Water Tribe peasants and the Avatar.

xXx

The first time Zuko kissed Katara, it was after a celebration; the chief's daughter's marriage celebration, where everybody in the Tribe, even Zuko, was invited. Katara asked him to dance, even though Zuko didn't know how and somehow they ended up outside of the main hall, alone in the snow, with Katara curled under his arm, smiling at nothing in particular. She turned towards him and told him she was glad he came to the Northern Water Tribe. Zuko leaned down and kissed her then, brushing his chapped lips over her soft mouth, sliding his hand into her thick hair. When he pulled away, she looked at him for a moment, shocked, before throwing her arms around his neck and laughing. It was then Zuko realized he was glad he was sent to the Northern Water Tribe, too.

xXx

The first time Katara kissed Zuko, it was with him lying on his back, pain prickling throughout his body, radiating from the new scar on his chest. She was crying, and Azula was shrieking in the background, but her mouth was warm and comforting, and Zuko pulled her against his chest, ignoring the pain and focusing solely on Katara. She pulled back first, pressing her forehead against his, telling he was an idiot for jumping in front of the lightning, tears streaking down her brown cheeks. Zuko only smiled, wrapped his arms around her and promising himself he was never going to let her go.


End file.
